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Can You Actually Develop Willpower Through Practice?

Willpower is the foundation of any good, positive choice that is made. Sometimes choices can be hard and willpower might seem like it isn’t around, but that just isn’t true. It just means you may need a little more practice in this skill. That’s right! Willpower is a skill and it can be developed through practice. Then, through that process of development, you may just find that you can achieve anything!

How could practicing willpower daily help improve your life?

Through greater relaxation. Why does stress come about? It often arrives through the form of worry, anxiety, or fear. It might be nice to crash in front of the television for awhile with a pint of triple chocolate fudge ice cream, but that’s not true relaxation. Practice using willpower to actually force yourself to relax! Take a few moments in a quiet room, breathe in deeply with your favorite music, and begin letting the tensions go.

Through better positive self-talk. Self-deprecation when in a public speaking role can help break the ice and get a point across. Self-deprecation in the form of negative self-talk when something doesn’t go the way you expect? That will drain your energy and ambition faster than anything else will! Practice using willpower to tell yourself the positive things you’ve been able to accomplish and you’ll be more likely to stay on the straight and narrow path.

Through proactive decisions. There are always going to be times when the decision to give in will rear its ugly head. When the willpower is strong, not weak, is the time to counteract that issue! Practice using your willpower to proactively make good decisions when you might be in a weaker state down the road so that you can keep going. If you love potato chips, for example, and you’d eat a whole bag and destroy your diet, then use your willpower now not to stock the house with the problematic item.

Through a better knowledge of oneself. One of the common ways people try to practice willpower is through the blocking of problematic thoughts. The problem is that the more a thought is shut out, the more it will keep coming back to haunt you time and time again. Even if it is a negative thought, you can acknowledge its presence without giving that thought validity. You choose your own actions and one of the best is to add meditation to your daily routine. Through meditation, you can begin to control the actions that are associated with bothersome thoughts and keep yourself in a positive mental state more often.

Through tiny, daily successes. Long term goals might seem far off in the distance, but short-term goals are met every day in some way. Instead of focusing on how far away the ultimate achievement is, take a moment at the end of each day to look at the progress you’ve made toward that goal instead. Each step on the straight and narrow path is a goal that has been met and should be celebrated!

With practice, the skill of willpower can help you achieve anything! Start practicing today, even if it is the first time, and you’ll begin to become more resilient to the negative and make consistent, positive choices every day. You can do it!